village in the Pomoravlje District, her dialect was certainly difficult to translate, and to retain the “melody of childhood” of writer Dragoslav. It conveys “unbelievable vitali- ty and giftedness for life”, which is the on- ly thing that saves Petria from grief, suffer- ing, disappointment, the deaths of loved ones, empty hopes, feelings of guilt, the constant struggle to survive, seemingly un- requited love ... It is precisely with her in- ner strength that this illiterate woman po- sitions herself a veritable human rock in a man’s world.“She is authentic and exciting, isn’t calculated, doesn’t set a thesis, which is why everyone finds themselves in her,” explains Milica. Milica is today mature enough in years to portray the widow Petria, though she’ll have to confront the brilliance with which Mirjana Karanović shone in the film adap- tation as a debutante and then second-year student at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts. The role of a woman full of the spirit of life and gigantic power established the criteria for the further career of this actress, but also the great responsibility for her colleagues tasked with transferring Petria’s emotions to the audience. Also in a similar position is director
Boban Skerlić, who is charged with emu- lating the magic of Srđan Karanović and faithfully presenting the manuscript of great Serbian writer Dragoslav Mihailović. Perse- cuted for decades as a single-minded critic, Mihailović was imprisoned as an 18-year- old on the notorious Goli Otok, where the rebellious spirit of socialist Yugoslavia was sent to die.“Those three years of imprison- ment marked his life, as well as our fate as children, and the entire family,”says Milica. That’s why the prestigious NIN Award in 1980 for novel of the year was not only “great joy”, but also“a kind of victory”over the regime, which wasn’t at all favourable towards him. So, although writing was“his intimate process”, it was impossible for it not to be part of the ballast that he carried with him, not agreeing to the rigid demands and corruption of one supposedly humane or- der. Alongside depth, her father also trans- ferred to her his love for words and the the- atre, so Milica dreamt of the stage from an early age. The theatre bewitched her, which, as she says,“may sound pathetic, but is per- fectly true”. Because of the magic of direct contact between the audience and the ac- tors, she abandoned her career as a trans- lator, but didn’t give up translating, so after
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator